Oleksandr Klymenko insisted on tripartite negotiations on the agreement with the EU in December 2013

Agreement on tripartite dialogue, which was achieved during the meeting of Petro Poroshenko, Vladimir Putin and representatives of the EU in Minsk, has already been offered by Ukrainian party before. In December 2013, Oleksandr Klymenko – ex-minister of Revenues and Duties of Ukraine – insisted on the creation of a tripartite commission during negotiations in in Brussels, wrote LB.ua, reported UNN.

According to the one of the first members of the Cabinet, who reported about readiness of its department to sign the Agreement, O. Klymenko, however, pointed at the difficulties that may face Ukraine during the process of implementation of the provisions of this document. In December during the negotiations in Brussels, the Minister of revenue and duties​ pointed European officials at the critical indicators of exports and imports in regards to Russia. According to his estimates, the reduction of customs duties after the creation of a free trade zone with the EU could reach from 430 to 640 million euros. Oleksandr Klymenko expressed serious concerns about the fall of payments into the Ukrainian budget, which consisted from the tax and customs duties on 82%.

O. Klymenko named companies, which produce steel, railway carriages, pipes and details, that have already experienced the difficulties of worsening trade relations with Russia by the time of negotiations. The minister promised to help them via deferred tax liabilities. However, he explained the European colleagues that this mechanism – is postponed budget losses.

Oleksandr Klymenko believed that the only way out of this situation is the creation of “airbags” in the form of launching joint investment projects with Europe, and tripartite negotiations on the agreement with the EU with the involvement of Russia. Although the overall results of the negotiations were positive (O. Klymenko, and S. Fule, European Commissioner, stated about mutual understanding), the idea of tripartite negotiations was not supported by Europe. The EU representatives referred to the fact that earlier, “there were no precedents” in their responses.

Let us remind, on August 26, during the Minsk meeting between Petro Poroshenko (President of Ukraine), Vladimir Putin (President of Russian Federation), Catherine Ashton (EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs), it was decided to create a contact group of the Russia-Ukraine-OSCE and the Russia-Ukraine-EU.

Until September 12, the parties should formulate offers to resolve the contradictions that arise after the ratification of the agreement on associated membership of Ukraine in the European Union. However, Ukraine is determined to ratification of the document in September.

Thus, Karel De Gucht – the representative of the European Union, the European Commissioner for Trade – said that the text of the Agreement can not be changed. However, he added that there is “a certain degree of flexibility in the implementation of the regulatory agreement”. Also, De Gucht on behalf of the European Union confirmed the holding of a tripartite meeting on the implementation of the Agreement, which would take place on September 12, in Brussels.